Saturday, November 15, 2008

When cooler weather makes it increasingly hard to leave ones bed in the pre-dawn hours to go birding; one wishes that the birds would be kind enough to drop by home for a photo session.

Sometimes, they do just that. We're having a good run since the last week. For a previous post on the "wildlife" at bagmane, see this post - Nature at Work

Night Heron

In case anyone is wondering what happened to the Pied Kingfishers, I have seen them at the other lake (near the Oracle Building (formerly iFlex).

I was rather surprised to read in the TOI that the White cheeked barbet is endangered. Check this link for the article. I also smiled to note that the barbet was "tiny", it may be small, but compared to a sunbird, its a giant :)

Verditer Flycatcher

The other day, while looking at a few parakeets that were creating quite a din on the terrace, we spotted a small blue bird in the distance. A bad photo identified it as a verditer flycatcher. A few days later, the little guy obliged us with a few pictures on a sunday afternoon. It sat pensively, looking at the lake, in the bright afternoon sun. It also caught a bee a little later.

I did a little research on the Verditer FC:

Breeding season ( March - October ) Breeding grounds are in the himalayan foothills Can be seen in Southern India from October to February, and in the north from September to March.Diet : tiny flying insects. Birds may maintain a feeding territory.

The Golden Oriole is a recent discovery as is the Verditer Flycatcher. The female was also present, but sadly was more shy, and gave poses hiding behind a very distracting twig.

A little research on it:This species O. o. kundoo has its eye stripe extending beyond the eye in the male. It is a visitor to the northern parts of India in Summer and moves southwards from August to September. Breeds - May to August.

All the birds here are photographed on the same tree that is on the edge of the lake. I would attribute the huge numbers of birds to near by DRDO, which has extensive green cover.

PS: The Oriole and the Verditer photos have been post processed. Next post will include details on what was done. I'm also finally learning to use Photoshop after watching Keshav use it with great success. :)

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The Golden Oriole u mentioned is actually a Black naped Oriole.The eurasian golden oriole has the eyes nly black as if wearing "kajal" but in the naped oriole ie kajal extends to the back of the head even.

@Satyabrata Mishra: Thank you for pointing out the id mistake on the Oriole. I realized it about a week or so after the post, when researching the migratory species, I have made the correction in later posts. The Oriole has become a frequent visitor to this tree. Oddly though, he only poses when it is over cast!